


Lakshmi and Clyde (Or 4 times two reptiles hung out together and 1 time they didn't)

by rubberglue



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 03:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2565875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubberglue/pseuds/rubberglue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Joan makes a new friend, Clyde does too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lakshmi and Clyde (Or 4 times two reptiles hung out together and 1 time they didn't)

I.

His first meeting with Lakshmi doesn’t go well at all. It’s not his fault to be honest. But if you ask Lakshmi, she will insist that it isn’t hers either. And considering the fact that Lakshmi is about twice his size, this isn’t a hill that he is willing to die on. 

It is true that he attacks first. 

It is also true that she responds by staring dismissively at him and puffing up.

It might also be true that he hides in his shell for a long while after that, despite Joan's prods.

None of the above makes it his fault that they get off to the wrong start. After all, she is the intruder, not him.

"He's just shy. He's usually not." He hears her tell that guy who lives next door after she taps his shell. “Let me put these flowers away.”

The guy laughs and they walk away from the tank. When he pokes his head out (very slightly, just in case Lakshmi is still watching him), he notices that the guy's sitting next to Joan on the sofa and not opposite her at her table. 

It's not how things usually work around here. 

Joan is smiling and touching the guy on his sleeve. The guy is smiling back at her.

He glares at Lakshmi (as much as he can from inside his shell). It's all her fault. He knows it.

II.

It is the third time she invades his home that they finally talk. And only because she steps on him and apologises. Clyde has to admit that he likes a lizard who can apologise.

"How long have you had him?" He is watching (from the corner of his eyes, because blatantly staring is just rude) Joan and the guy on the sofa again. They are sitting far too close. But far more disturbingly, they keep laughing and touching each other. 

Lakshmi moves slowly to face him, her tail sweeping across the tank. “Not long. He’s a replacement for his brother. How long have you had her?”

“A while. It used to be two of them and we lived in a bigger place.”

“What happened?”

“He left. Joan says he was a jerk anyway.” Clyde shifts so he can see Joan and the guy next door without causing a crick in his neck.

She moves beside him and he’s again reminded of how large she is. “This one isn’t a jerk. And I think she likes him.”

Joan is smiling again as she leans towards the guy from next door, looking at something he’s holding. It’s been a while since she’s smiled like that. Maybe never.

“He’s not too bad,” says Clyde grudgingly.

III.

“Is there a reason he always brings you over?” Clyde is chewing on a piece of lettuce. He’s stopped watching Joan and Andrew – that being the name of the guy next door - because firstly, they are getting boring (there is only so many times he can watch them giggle and touch and kiss) and secondly, there is lettuce to be eaten. He still doesn't trust Lakshmi not to eat his lettuce if he isn't looking. The last visit, she ate his fruits. Granted, he had told her that he didn't want the fruits but that wasn't quite the same as inviting her to eat them.

"He's over protective."

Clyde eyes her. She looks perfectly healthy to him. "Why?"

"It might be because I tend to escape." She says it the way someone might say that they ate the last grape (which she did).

"Have you ever been successful?" 

She shrugs, the movement slow and graceful. "All the time."

It is like something shifts in his perspective of Lakshmi. "All the time," he repeats.

"Surely you have too." Her tone is bored. "It's not difficult."

"I thought you liked him."

"I like freedom more."

Joan and Andrew are snuggled together on the sofa. He hears Joan laugh at something Andrew says and looks up in time to see Andrew put an arm around Joan and pull her even closer.

“How about a movie tomorrow night, or are you on stakeout again?”

“I could take one night off,” Joan says. “A movie sounds good. How about that latest superhero one?”

Clyde wonders if he likes freedom more too.

IV.

Sometimes Clyde helps Joan in her investigations. He's been an ambulance, an alarm clock, a bomb and a dead body. 

Once, he's even been out with Joan undercover at a children's zoo.

He's never been so full of adrenaline before.

It took them two visits of planning and preparation to get to this point. Luckily for them, both Joan and Andrew seem to enjoy hanging out at this apartment a lot. Sometimes, Andrew would cook, like he is doing today while Joan sits at her table and does all her detecting. Others, like today, Andrew brings over bags of food and they would sit and watch baseball, in between feeding each other. 

Clyde is glad when all they do is feed each other.

Sometimes, he needs to hide in his shell. Lakshmi doesn’t care and stares shamelessly.

"They only have eyes for each other," sighs Lakshmi. Then she perks up. "Which makes things easier for us. Now, the average human won't notice us moving if we move slowly."

Clyde isn’t sure if Joan is an average human but he says nothing.

He looks around. Unlike Sherlock, Joan is much neater and she doesn't leave random bits and bobs lying around, which makes looking for a hiding place a little more difficult, something Lakshmi has tasked him to do.

There is a potted plant and while it’s a little far away, Joan and Andrew have moved from feeding each other to their other preferred activity, which means they will be occupied for some time. He gestures to the plant and Lakshmi nods slowly.

“It will do.”

No one ever told Clyde that the approval of a lizard would mean so much to him.

They don’t make it to the potted plant. Joan picks him up, shakes her head and waggles her finger at him.

“She’s more observant than most,” says Lakshmi with a sigh as she makes herself comfortable on his favourite rock.

He knew she wasn’t an average human.

V. 

The doorbell rings and Joan answers it. Clyde watches as Andrew steps inside, hands her a small bag then kisses her on the cheek. 

Lakshmi isn’t with him. His first thought is that she escaped without him. The thought annoys him.

“Where’s Lakshmi?” Joan asks, taking his hand and leading him to her sofa.

“My brother’s back.” There’s a strange tone in his voice and Clyde is curious. He eases himself closer to the edge of the tank.

Joan blinks. “Oh. I guess that means –“

“It means I’m moving back.” Seated on the sofa, Andrew grabs her hands. “Joan, I know we said we would take this slow –“

She’s looking at their joined hands. “You don’t live that far away.”

“No I don’t.” Then he sighs. “We don’t have to talk about this now.”

Untangling their hands, Joan leans back into the sofa. “Some things happened several months ago that made me wary of letting people in.”

Clyde wonders if she talking about Sherlock, the jerk.

“You are so confident, so capable on the outside,” Andrew says so softly Clyde has to strain to hear. “But sometimes I don’t know who you are inside.”

A wry smile crosses Joan’s face. “I think I’m quite messy inside.”

“I would like to get to know that mess more.”

Clyde rolls his eyes but sees that Joan is smiling in that way which makes her eyes sparkle and her face brighten. 

“I’ll like that too.”

He moves back to his favourite rock. Time to retreat into his shell.


End file.
